Topeng Panca: Popular Mask Performance
At the end of nineteenth century, the king of Badung had assembled a truly superior group of dancers to perform at court. Some of the artistes were of brahmana caste, while others were commoners. Ida Bagus Boda, who was to later conceive the modern choreography for the condong (lady in waiting) in Legong, was leader of the group. Since there were five dancers who were all expert performer of Topeng (mask perfoermance), Ida Bagus Boda was inspired to devise a performance in which the entire group could take a part. He called it Topeng Panca (Five-man Mask performance).
Topeng Panca performance on Bali Arts Festival 2006
Unlike Topeng Pajegan which is performed as part of ritual or ceremony, Topeng Panca was an entirely secular performance, purely for entertainment of the ruler and his family. The story which was depicted in this performance was taken from the chronicles of Bali or Panji (chronicles of Java). Instead of using one clown or interpreter (penasar) as in Topeng Pajegan, Topeng Panca used two clowns, created new possibility for humors and jokes. Comic scenes were thus protracted in Topeng Panca, and the performance lasted much longer than traditional Solo Topeng performance, to allow for extended clowning. The action proceed more smoothly than in ritual topeng, since no pause was needed while the dancers was off-stage changing mask and headdress (In ritual topeng or Topeng Pajegan, a single performer play all the characters in turn).
Topeng Panca performance on Bali Arts Festival 2006
The innovation proved to be very popular, and after Badung fell to the Dutch, in 1906, the company went ‘on the road’. They performed in many of larger settlement of the island and inspired many imitators. The genre is still popular among Balinese audiences today.
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